The Turning Vanes of Memory – sheer horizontal shades

Research to Herald a Change for the better

Corin opened her eyes to a bright blinding light. The light! Could this be the end? “The end of what?” she asked herself as she was dragged into a state of unconsciousness. She had no recollection of the past until now, it seemed as though she had just been born, for there was no memory of how she got there or who she was.

She awoke from a slumber that seemed like a lifetime. Hand, legs, still there, everything seemed okay, except for a gaping scar that ran right across her stomach that sent her into a spiral of confusion, still nothing, not a single memory. She looked around her room, as mundane as it seemed there were shades that stretched across one full wall of the room. Whoever was keeping her had good taste in shades. The shades were closed; it cast this dreamy pink shadow over the room. The shades, in fact, had a very relaxing effect on her, it gave her a cozy, luscious feel and as she looked around, the room immediately transformed into this room that had the same lighting as it had the same shades, only thing it was furnished with the usual paraphernalia that one would find in a den.

The door opened and a handsome young man walked in, kissed her on the forehead and handed her a bunch of documents, instead of looking down at them, she set them on a table and picked up a brochure about shades by a company named Shangri-La. She turned the pages to a page titled ‘Sheer Horizontal Shades’. “You know these shades remind me of you. They are functional like blinds – sturdy; they keep the light out sometimes and yet, are beautiful, soft and welcoming when open. Like the shades have hard vanes between two sheer fabrics, you too are made of strong stuff, neatly placed on this beautiful human being; everyone appreciates what you’re doing.” The young man said. She smiled. “Maybe we should have them installed in every room on the floor.” She nodded in approval and turned to her computer. She felt herself coming back to reality, and as she was pulled away she noticed an emblem on the screen, it looked important, somewhat official. She snapped back to the room with the shades. She felt weak but managed to walk over to the door, it was locked of course. But she was finally at peace, she was in a place she knew well apparently, this room had the same shades, no wonder she liked the shades, she’d picked them out herself!

Corin walked to the window admiring the shades. He was right. The vanes were arranged parallel to each other, held together by sheer fabric. She pulled the string, and the vanes tilted to a horizontal position allowing the light in. As she looked out, she noticed she was on the fifteenth floor of this building, no point screaming for help. She raised the shades with the vanes still open. They looked like stripes moving along the window disappearing into the panel, and instantly, like Hitchcock’s montage in ‘Psycho’ that went from the circular bathtub drain to Janet Leigh’s eye, the moving vanes in their horizontal position merged into a conveyor belt at an airport.

Corin was standing next to the same man, waiting for her bags to come. “What will we do if no one comes forward for the testing? Many people’s lives depend on it, we can’t guarantee safety to those who come forward, and the onus now falls on us. The problem is I don’t think anyone who knows about the experiment would be willing, knowing what they know. We can’t call for public volunteering; if the government or the people get wind of this, their reactions will be counter-productive to what we are trying to do, not to mention PETA in our case for the use of rabbits for our experiment”. Instantly, she was transported back to the room.

Whatever they had given her had immense psychoactive abilities; it was some sort of top secret experiment that apparently involved rabbits. Strange! She experienced a few more flashbacks, most of which were induced by the shades. She saw herself pick out the shades for different rooms with different requirements. For example, the room she was in was fitted with room darkening sheer horizontal shades that had vanes that were three inches in width; they had darker vanes in order to block out more light. It seemed like it was designed for the purpose of recuperation of some sort since much of the light was cut off, allowing relaxation. Some were fitted with light filtering sheer horizontal shades that had the translucent, slimmer, two-inch vanes that allowed sunlight in, even when the vanes are closed, and at the same time, minimized the glare and partially muted the view allowing a certain amount of privacy. The best part about this company was that it allowed you to customize shades to fit different sizes and shapes. Also, one had a variety of colors to pick from. She was quite surprised by the attention paid to detail, for example, specifics such as an inside mount, where the shades were placed within the frame or, an outside mount, where the shades are installed on or above the window frame, were given. The lift options of corded, cordless or motorized were also available.

All along the glass wall that separated the office from the lab, blackout shades were installed; even the glass door to the lab had shades, not for lighting purposes, she now remembered, but for privacy, what they were working on was definitely top secret. Of course, the scientists had a good laugh when she recommended shades when the question of confidentiality had come up, but she’d assured them that the blackout sheer horizontal shades would do the trick. The shades for the door came without the facility of lowering or raising the shades, so that removed the hassle of the cords getting stuck in the door. Plus, Crown had adhered to the CPSC guidelines that had specially designed “cordless” remote controlled shades. But, of course, these were recommended for homes with children; then again, she couldn’t have some absent-minded scientist with his head stuck in the clouds getting strangled by extra cords sticking out around the door, although it would serve as a good laugh around the office, things could get pretty dull!

The Various Functions

She recalled picking this variety of shades for the options of privacy, functionality, as well as elegance. She didn’t want the place looking like those drab labs where no attention is given to the interiors, where scientists with glasses as thick as her notepad go about their work mindlessly, not aware that they work at a place that resembles the inside of an empty box. Of course, doing a full renovation of the interiors would’ve been time consuming and expensive not to mention this was a company that did serious work, you couldn’t expect them to take time off to pick out fabrics let alone put their work on hold for paint jobs and installations, those scientists would inevitably turn on her. No, something quick yet impactful had to do, and the sheer horizontal shades had come to her rescue. Since it had vanes placed inside sheer fabrics, it resembled drapes in a way, it gave off a soft, homely feel. They were all flame-resistant as well.

Corin noticed that it had been around an hour and a half. The door opened, and the same young man from the flashbacks emerged from behind the door. “Welcome back, darling,” he said with the most grateful, yet relaxed look on his face. “Who the hell are you?” she heard herself say. “Momentary memory loss is one of the side effects of the testing, one amongst the nicer side effects believe it or not. Things could’ve gone a lot worse.” He let out a nervous laugh. “Good news, the experiment was successful. Your name will go down in confidential medical history for what you did today.” He held her hand. “We will get through this together. There’s hope for you now since we’ve proven that rabbit virus can kill cancer cells. I know this is a lot for you to take in now but give it some time, it will all come back. But for now, you’ll have to excuse me, we have a ton of phone calls to make. If you had your memory, you’d be throwing me out of the room already, goodbye darling”. He kissed her on her forehead and walked away, and as she watched him leave the room, she felt herself being pulled back into another dimension again.